Rock County unemployment rate falls in March

MADISON—The unemployment rate in the Janesville metro area dropped in March, the Department of Workforce Development reported Wednesday.

Statewide, unemployment rates fell in all 12 metro areas.

The department said the March rate for Rock County—also known as the Janesville Metropolitan Statistical Area—was 7.8 percent, lower than the 8.1 percent reported in February and the 8.8 percent tallied in March 2013.

Overall, the state unemployment rate in March was 6.7 percent, down from the 7 percent rate posted in February and lower than the 7.5 percent posted in March 2013, the department reported.

Of the 32 Wisconsin cities with at least 25,000 people, unemployment rates decreased in all but three.

Among counties, Rock County had the 29th-highest rate, while Dane County had the lowest at 4.4 percent.

Walworth County had a March unemployment rate of 7.2 percent, while Green and Jefferson counties had rates of 6.3 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively. February-March rates decreased or remained the same in all but six of Wisconsin's counties.

Among individual cities, Janesville's rate of 8 percent in March was the 10th-highest in the state.

With a March unemployment rate of 10.3 percent, Beloit had the second-highest rate among Wisconsin cities. It trailed only Racine and its March unemployment rate of 11.8 percent.